Bigfoot & Giants & Red Eyes, OH MY! #OpenBook Blog Hop

October 27, 2025

What is the best known cryptid in your area?

Or your favorite one? (A cryptid is an animal whose existence is disputed or unverified by science, known only through folklore and anecdotal evidence like eyewitness accounts )

I’m lucky enough to be on a committee with local Paranormal Enthusiast/Cryptovania’s Data Wrangler, Jason Trost. He’s been researching phenomena in the area for a decade.

The closest to a local cryptid that he could identify is Red Eyes. Not the Red Eyes from other localities, this one seems to be related to Bigfoot. What is more interesting is the ties to specific locations, especially the historic Miller Farm area. (Which is now part of the Oil Creek State Park.) A group of teenage boys who saw a creature described it as all white, over 6 feet tall, with arms, legs, and glowing eyes. The encounter was documented in a local newspaper.

And then there are giants.

Which I find more interesting. The theory is that there was a race of giants that lived in the area and were responsible for creating mounds in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. There is also speculation that they created the pits that were enclosed by timber and served as a way to collect oil from the local waterway, today known as Oil Creek.  (Because when white settlers moved in, there was so much oil in the ground that it actually coated the surface of the water in the creek. The Native Americans used it for hair care and medicinal purposes.) Note: This area is the home of the first commercial oil well.

The mounds in Ohio have been explored and various items, including copper sheets, have been found. There is controversary among scholars about the builders. The Native Americans tribes who inhabited the area don’t have stories about it. (Or don’t share.) What I find most interesting is that there is overlap between the arrival of the first European settlers and the end of the era of the giants.

How about our other authors? What cryptids do they want to share? Check out the links below to find out.

And, as always, please stay safe until next time.

October 27, 2025

What is the best known cryptid in your area? Or your favorite one? (A cryptid is an animal whose existence is disputed or unverified by science, known only through folklore and anecdotal evidence like eyewitness accounts )

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

 


The Color of Money #OpenBook Blog Hop


Aug 26, 2024

What is your area of the world best known for (in your opinion?)

The Native Americans recognized the usefulness of black gold for centuries.

They collected it from seeps in the ground and off the surface of creeks, and used it for many things, including medicine, ceremonial paint, and waterproofing. They even traded it for goods and services. We’re talking about crude oil.

Naturally, white settlers learned from the locals and started using oil. Which led to the desire to find  different ways to obtain it. Introducing Colonel Edwin Drake and welcome to Titusville, PA.

In case you didn’t learn about it in your history lessons, this is the area where the first commercial oil well was drilled and where the oil industry got its start. Wells drilled for other reasons had produced oil as a by-product, the well in Titusville was the first one specifically drilled to bring oil to the surface. That was back in 1859. 

Drake Well

 

The plot of land that the well was drilled on is now a museum and park which draws around 35,000  tourists a year. The oil industry has pretty much abandoned the area as oil no longer easily found, but remnants of it still remain. Money created by the oil rush has mostly followed the move to other parts of the country, but plenty of artifacts remain. Everything from magnificent, restored Victorian mansions to stately churches to crumbling factories.

St. Joseph Parish/ Rev. Johnathan Schmidt

And that’s the answer. The area is best known for the oil industry, which gained prominence here before shifting to many other places.

Oh, and Bigfoot may live here, too.

How about the other authors? It’ll be interesting to find out what their areas are known for.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

What is your area of the world best known for (in your opinion?)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter